Durban talks progress as hosts urge Canada not to bully

Mike De Souza, Postmedia News12.02.2011

South African High Commissioner Mohau Pheko interviewed at the South African High Commission in Ottawa. She spoke on Canada's role at the international climate change negotiations being held in Durban, South Africa

DURBAN, South Africa — Signs of progress emerged Saturday at international climate change negotiations as thousands took to the streets urging global leaders to step up their efforts.

The demonstration came one day after China indicated it was considering joining a “legally binding” deal to reduce emissions. At the same time, the conference also received a draft text that offered different options for negotiators for achieving a $100-billion-per-year green fund by 2020 to help developing countries tackle the causes and impacts of global warming.

Developed countries have pledged to offer “fast-start” financing over the first few years, but the text suggested new taxes in shipping and aviation as other options to consider.

Canada already pledged about $1.2 billion over three years to help kick-start the fund, Environment Minister Peter Kent had said before the conference got underway.

But the host country of the conference also urged Canada to reconsider turning its back on the Kyoto Protocol, suggesting Kent was “bullying” poorer countries to support the Canadian government’s anti-Kyoto Protocol stance.

Kent has described Kyoto as an agreement of the “past” and that Canada, as with Japan and Russia, will not take on new targets beyond the existing commitment period that ends in 2012.

Mohau Pheko, South Africa’s high commissioner to Canada, said she was particularly disturbed by Kent’s recent suggestions that he would take a hard line approach against developing nations and challenge founding principles of the existing international climate change agreements that require developed countries to take responsibility for causing the environmental threat over the past 150 years.

“That’s bullying,” she said in a wide-ranging interview with Postmedia News in Ottawa. “How does a developed country say something like that? That is absolute bullying in the system. You don’t do that.”

She said her country has been approached by other nations in vulnerable positions that have been lobbied by Canada to leave the treaty.

“We must also recall that many of things are linked to aid packages and there’s arm-twisting,” she said.

Pheko, echoing comments from other emerging economies such as Brazil, suggested it would be more practical to fix problematic elements of the Kyoto agreement rather than starting from scratch on a new deal.

“It’s our job to come in and restructure it as we see fit,” she said. “But to lobby other countries to pull out of the instrument and leave nothing in place is far more dangerous.”

She said extending the treaty also would encourage reductions in industrialized countries to continue as international negotiators work on building a more comprehensive agreement that resolves major concerns.

“That way, it buys us enough time to fix these issues and to put in place, properly, agreed ways of what we mean when we say a legally binding agreement should mean the same thing.”

Pheko said South African government officials also have asked Canada to be more transparent about its national concerns and objectives, beyond its existing public skepticism about emissions from major economies such as China, the U.S. and India.

Although she said the Canadian government in recent years has acted like a “brat” that pulls out of multilateral discussions when it doesn’t get its way, she said her government still has faith Canada will re-engage with the international community.

“Canada for us, is not a lost cause, despite all the speculation,” she said. “We believe that the system works when we are at the table and it’s better to come to the table with your problems and allow other parties to listen. And what we’re going to create is an environment that enables everyone to listen to your issues.

Kent is expected to join the negotiations in Durban up until the conference wraps up on Friday.